Rebirth of a Lost Nation: Princess, Please Respect Yourself

Chapter 137 Unable to Protect

Jiang Lige raised her beautiful eyes and explained concisely, "Xie Haonan's biological mother was the original artist whose Danqing painting was plagiarized by Lady Ying. Fearing the truth would be exposed, Lady Ying instigated the childless Princess Jingyu to adopt the son born to her maidservant as her dowry. To prevent Xie Haonan from having other intentions when he grew up, they killed the mother and kept the son, thus eliminating any future trouble."

"The Eighth Master's biological mother, Lady Ying, used Princess Jingyu to kill Xie Haonan's biological mother?" Song Yue finally understood. "So, this is the news the princess passed on to Xie Haonan?"

"Yes."

"A son pays his mother's debts, so it's no wonder Xie Haonan was so ruthless." Song Yue sighed, but she didn't forget to curse, "How dare they plot against the princess's reputation like this? They're really a bunch of monsters, not a single one of them is good."

"Their alliance is simply a matter of mutual gain. The more they harbor their own agenda, the more they weigh the pros and cons, and the more suspicious they become of each other, the more likely they are to fall apart. Especially after what happened today, given Ning Luyang's vengeful nature, he will definitely not let Princess Jingyu off the hook if he gets the chance. And if Princess Jingyu becomes aware of this, she won't let Ning Luyang off easily."

"Let them plot against us with such evil intentions! I can't wait to see this drama of feuding!"

"It's still early." Jiang Lige, who had resolved another problem, was in a good mood. After Jingyu and his group walked away, he slowly said, "Let's go out and see if the Eighth Master is dead."

When the master and servant appeared in the imperial garden with the "missing paint", Ning Luyang was sitting dejectedly in front of the ruins, with a bloodstain on his forehead.

Seeing Ning Luyang in such a miserable state, Jiang Lige couldn't help but feel concerned. He asked in surprise, "What happened to the Eighth Master? All this?"

Ning Luyang's eyes were filled with complex expressions. The moment he looked at Jiang Lige, all his emotions turned into bitter powerlessness, and then he said.

"I'm sorry, I can't protect it."

Jiang Lige could only say soothingly, "Nine out of ten things in life are not satisfactory. They are just a few trivial things. Master Ba, don't blame yourself."

"No, it's not."

Ning Luyang suddenly became excited, his eyes were red and almost bloody, and he suddenly grabbed Jiang Lige's hand, as if hoping to gain some strength in this way.

"For someone like me, no matter how hard I try, I'm still a worthless piece of shit. Am I a joke from the moment I was born?"

Being grabbed by Ning Luyang like this, Jiang Lige was startled and subconsciously shook off his hand. He took a few steps back and finally calmed down. He said calmly, "Eighth Master, you must not belittle yourself because of the mistakes of others. If you do this, won't you just fulfill the evildoers' wishes?"

Ning Luyang had obviously regained consciousness by now and quickly apologized to Jiang Lige, "I'm sorry, Princess. I... I was too excited just now and offended you."

"No problem." Jiang Lige responded, took out a tube of ointment and placed it in front of Ning Luyang. "I think the Eighth Master needs to calm down now, so Zhaohua won't bother him anymore."

After saying that, Jiang Lige didn't care about Ning Luyang's expression, and the master and servant hurriedly disappeared in the imperial garden.

Ning Luyang, who was left far behind, lost the courage to catch up. He held the box of ointment thoughtfully for a long time without moving.

……

The incident in the Imperial Garden that day involved the Xie family. The ministers fought in the imperial court. To put it mildly, it was a quarrel. To put it more seriously, it was a malicious brawl in the palace. It was a contempt for the majesty of heaven, and the execution of the entire family was not an exaggeration.

As Jiang Lige expected, even though Princess Jingyu was extremely powerful, she had to be wary of Youyou's gossip. After weighing the pros and cons, she suppressed the matter and kept it quiet for some time.

Ning Luyang suffered a loss and was very depressed. Occasionally, he would give Jiang Lige some worthless gadgets to please her.

Jiang Lige refused all of them, but Ning Luyang was not discouraged at all and sent them in anyway.

After winning a great victory without losing a single soldier, Jiang Lige returned to her days as an embroiderer and lived a peaceful life.

Ning Yunxiao's battle reports from the front line also brought good news frequently, which made Song Yue talk about it happily in front of Jiang Lige every day, while the face of Prince Zhao's concubine became darker and darker.

This kind of leisurely life did not last for many days, and soon it was time for Empress Xiao's Thousand Years Banquet.

After all, it was Empress Xiao's birthday banquet, and the scale of the banquet was extremely large. It only happened once a year, so Jiang Lige, as the "representative of a friendly country", naturally had to attend in a grand manner to celebrate the friendship between the two countries.

Unfortunately, the Qianqiu Banquet was also the first day that the third floor of Chang'an Fang was open to the public.

Under Yu Linglong's careful management, Chang'anfang has now become one of the shops that is highly sought after by the powerful and noble families in the capital. Although the business is good, it is still some distance away from Jiang Lige's goal of being "the best in the capital".

Therefore, the first opening of the third floor of Chang'an Fang must be a blockbuster!

The number of customers will inevitably increase on the opening day. Although Yu Linglong is in charge of the shop, she may not be able to take care of so many people. Jiang Lige thought about it and sent Fengquan out of the palace to help on the same day to ensure that everything goes smoothly.

Even more unfortunate was that Song Yue somehow got an upset stomach the day before the Qianqiu Banquet and her face turned blue from diarrhea. Jiang Lige felt sorry for Song Yue and let her rest in the room alone while he prepared to go to the banquet alone.

"The Qianqiu Banquet is a state banquet after all. You are representing the reputation of Nanchu by attending. How can you be so careless?" Empress Dowager Jiang naturally disapproved. She pointed to the senior palace maid who served beside her and said to Jiang Lige, "Yinzhuang has been by my side for many years. She is a competent maid. She will serve you tomorrow."

Jiang Lige knew that Empress Dowager Jiang had good intentions, and he couldn't afford to offend his relatives, so he smiled.

"In that case, I will borrow my great-aunt's Aunt Yinzhuang for my service. I can also ask Aunt Yinzhuang to teach the little girls in my courtyard how to behave and how to manage everything so properly."

Empress Dowager Jiang was also happy to accept Jiang Lige's compliment. She smiled and scolded him as a "naughty monkey", and then remembered to ask about Jiang Lige's needlework progress.

Jiang Lige got a headache when he heard about needlework. He hurriedly said that he had to go back to prepare for tomorrow's banquet and fled.

After going out, Jiang Lige patted his chest and breathed a sigh of relief. He had just exchanged a few polite words with Yin Zhuang when he bumped into Jiang Chuchu who came to pay her respects.

Jiang Chuchu politely half-bowed and stood up, "Chuchu greets sister."

"Did the princess tell you to get up?" Jiang Lige folded his hands and asked unhappily, "Why? After spending a few days in Princess Jingyu's presence, you've actually forgotten the rules of our Funing Palace?"

Jiang Lige had a bad temper in the past, but he never made things difficult for Jiang Chuchu about this kind of thing.

Ever since Empress Dowager Jiang prepared to let Jiang Chuchu return to Nanchu, Jiang Chuchu has completely surrendered to Princess Jingyu these days. Now she has become a member of the "Jingyu faction". Jiang Lige is naturally too lazy to maintain any superficial relationship with her.